Training...

This morning, like the last 2, I got up in the 6's to go for a run. I thought today I would extend things to about 8 miles, as I'm slowly letting my body come to terms with what it's like to chase strength in this heat. Deciding to take on the Ironman is propelling me. The fact that I need to qualify for Kona in 6 months is propelling me. I know I'll have to find new spaces in myself that I didn't think existed. It's not that I'm not ready for them yet but more...one thing at a time.

I had one major concern coming over here and training across uncontrolled territories - stray dogs. Stray dogs don't like runners. They don't trust us - here I am speaking for the collective when I might be the only one on the planet with this problem...but I know that's not true. Even the craziest of crazed dogs will usually follow me wherever I am going. It's a fact. In Thailand and on the main stretch of Chaweng, they're everywhere. Most of them are absolutely friendly and most of them are too hot or too old or too hungry to give a shit about someone running by. But some do. Right now, I'd say about 1 in 14 do give a shit. Today, at about the turnaround or the 4 mile mark, I met one of them. You can usually tell right away if they are going to make a move on you. It's in their eyes, a distinct change in their movement. As I ran past today, this one came after me, barking and moving with me, looking like it was going to take a swipe at my feet or my shoes - as it's understandable and widely known that some dogs absolutely have a shoe fetish, right? The first time I passed, I slowed down to an easy jog, began yelling and flagging my shirt in its face. Once we had gone about a hundred yards, it turned back, not wanting to get taken too far from home or having successfully chased me away from it's territory. I knew I was going to come the same way home, knew that the same fucker was going to be sitting outside of the same shop and waiting for me...

I came to the top of a hill and he was watching me. He was EXACTLY fucking waiting for me. He was watching the cars pass in front of him like Frogger waiting for a break so that he could cross and fuck with me. I got to the top of the hill and started walking, hoping that he might let me slide. He wasn't about to. When he broke for me, I broke. There were Thais on the opposite side of the road and they were watching this crazy dog chasing a monster Farang and I can only imagine the Thai things they were saying to one another. Maybe they said nothing. There was a moment I looked back and realized he didn't stand a chance or didn't want to and I turned around and taunted the dog because why wouldn't I before turning back and finishing at a blazing pace all the way home, so fast the 20 or so dogs I then passed didn't even think of chasing me.

I am a person who does everything he can to find light in darkness, to spin and spin and spin until things turn out in my head the way I know I'll need them to turn out in my life. These dogs scattered all over this island and wherever else I'm headed, they are my gift. They are here to keep me sharp and alert and they are here to teach me to love them and they are here to make me fast, so fast. For that, I am grateful.